#brackets002

A fully grown vessel, raised under the teachings of a Nailmaster. - The long forgotten child of Hallownest’s former King with skills trained and honed by one of the last pupils of the Great Nailsage. Truly a formidable opponent to beasts and gods alike.

“Stan’s Rollercade, yeah! Though perhaps before I talk about my first time there, I might as well describe the place for those who aren’t familiar:

Imagine the best arcade you’ve ever seen– chock full of games from Dance Dance Revolution to Pac-Man and plastered with neon lights and posters that look like they were pulled fresh and crisp from the 80’s and 90’s. Then add a rollerskating rink and the best cheap pizza in walking distance from Danvers U, and you’ve got Stan’s Rollercade. It’s a go-to locale in Centrum City for the college-aged crowd. The owner’s pretty chill too– I helped him out when Henry almost wrecked the place while showing off, and now he lets me and the Squad come in and use the party rooms for hangouts, given that they’re not already booked. And free skate rentals too. It’s a nice deal.

Whether the villain’s speech was cut off by his surprise or by the force of his sudden involuntary exhale was debatable. Both were typical responses to a boot slamming into one’s diaphragm in the middle of an obviously-rehearsed soliloquy. Either way he rocketed backwards through plate glass, and the next sound out of his mouth was an undignified squawk as he hurtled towards the ground.

I think that’s ideal. There are ways to write that which aren’t confusing, and most of that is just addressing specifically within the story that they are perceived by others to be a different gender than the narration knows them to truly be. I’m generally okay with different pronouns being used in dialogue, so long as the narration is clear about what the truth is, and that the reader doesn’t end up reading it and thinking it’s okay to misgender the character.

Another option would be refraining from gendered pronouns (even “they”) altogether. It’s hard to do, but you can technically arrange sentences or use the character’s name.

Also, not all nonbinary people use they/them/their. (I use ey/em/eir myself, and many others use she/her, etc.)

" uhh, not exactly- "

" he uh- he got me pretty good. he's kinda,,, messy to fight? like not really physically, you can barely tell that there's been a fight after we duke it out but like, mentally he leaves a mess. that means i really can't do too many battles with him back to back without having a full on public breakdown as spiderling. that would be,, really embarrassing and then the whole city would think i'm weak and i shouldn't be spider- "

" ... "